The API said on Tuesday that U.S. oil stockpiles rose last week, coinciding with a reduction in worries about a worldwide glut as a result of supply interruptions brought on by an increase in vessel attacks along a vital shipping route through the Red Sea.
The U.S. benchmark for crude oil, WTI Futures, settled 1.3% higher at $73.44 a barrel before trading at $74.08 after the report. In contrast to the 2.3 million barrel drop that the API reported for the previous week, U.S. crude stockpiles increased by 939,000 barrels for the week that ended on December 15. Analysts had projected a drop of roughly 2.2 million barrels.
A surge in weekly U.S. stockpiles coincides with worries about non-OPEC supplies expanding, though such worries have partly subsided in the wake of multiple attacks on ships in the Red Sea by the Iran-aligned Yemeni terrorist organization, the Houthi tribe.
According to API statistics, distillate supplies rose by 2.7 million barrels last week, while petrol inventories grew by 669,000 barrels. It is anticipated that weekly U.S. crude supply dropped by roughly 2.28 million barrels last week in the official government inventory report, which is scheduled for release on Wednesday.
